


waves

by nausicaa_of_phaeacia



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Jiaying, Post Jiaying, Season/Series 04, nothing happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-01 05:15:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8610217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa_of_phaeacia/pseuds/nausicaa_of_phaeacia
Summary: By the time he gets to the spot, it's gotten dark, and he's afraid she won't be there anymore.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know. I was in a weird (not bad, just strange) mood today. Also, I miss Jiaying, really. I don't like how the show handled her towards he end, I think there was much more potential for the character (apart from the fact that the plot was just plain cruel to Daisy).  
> Nothing happens, basically ... it's a quiet little thing. (Same as always, I guess.)

At first, he thinks he might find her at Dr Winslow's, and she probably was here recently (looking through the window, he can see there are fresh flowers on the reception counter), but to be honest, he knew she wasn't going to be visiting her father. Not today.  
He gets back into Lola and drives away.

By the time he gets to the spot, it's gotten dark, and he's afraid she won't be there anymore. He decides to get out of the car anyway, carefully closes the door (it's late, after all). There's a figure sitting on the ground mere feet from the water, and while he'd be able to recognize her everywhere, he still carries that tiny doubt, the minute possibility of it not being her.  
Carefully not to startle her, he steps closer very slowly. 

"I'd know Lola's headlights anywhere."  
She doesn't turn around, but he can hear her smile anyway.  
"Yeah, she's one of a kind."  
She wants to ask him how he knew, the question is on the tip of her tongue, but she swallows it down. After all, he always just knows these kinds of things.  
"You're not cold?"  
"Coulson. It's May."  
"My point."  
It's almost a sigh, and he bites his lip. "I'm okay. Thanks."

"Can I –"  
She makes a nonchalant, but inviting gesture. It's the first time she looks at him. He's pretty sure she's been crying some time in the past few hours, and it makes his stomach turn over with guilt.  
He just sits down next to her in his half-heartedly official dark jeans. It's quite dark next to the water, the single lantern a few feet from them being the only source of light. Still, he catches her looking at his legs.  
"They're new."  
She chuckles. "Sorry. It's just that I can't decide whether I should feel guilty for having you sit on the ground in these jeans or not. I mean, now that you're a rogue agent again."  
"It's not a suit."  
It makes her giggle.  
"And even if it were," he mutters, a smirk in the corner of his lips.

It feels awkwardly quiet once they stop laughing, the ocean's larger and smaller waves setting a strangely irregular rhythm, the kind that takes a while to be recognized as a pattern.  
"I don't actually know where she is."  
He sighs. They are quite close to the spot where Jiaying was killed two years ago on this day – as close as possible, anyway.  
"I have no idea where they brought her. It's just – you know, it's weird not knowing where my mother is buried, I guess. If they buried her, that is."  
He makes a small humming noise, disapproving of that last part, and she smiles a little, painfully.

"I'm sure she's here."  
"Coulson –"  
"No, I mean - _here_. You know." He meets her eyes, and the moment where she goes from doubtful to accepting almost makes him want to cry a little. She nods shyly.

"What about your mother?"  
"You mean where she's buried?"  
"Yeah. No. I don't know."  
"She's in Manitowoc. Under a quite small tombstone."  
He knows she wants to ask, and that's why she doesn't.  
"We were still broke when she died, I wasn't really making any money yet – I was still in training. They made me choose it."

She examines his face from the side, but in the dark, she's not sure if he just looks really stern or about to cry. She leans her shoulder against his anyway, just to be safe.  
"It's this small thing – I mean it was the only kind of tombstone I could afford."  
"What – what does it say?"  
"It's just – it's simple. It's – it just says 'Julie Coulson. Dearly missed'."  
"'Dearly missed'. I'm sorry, Coulson."  
He nudges her shoulder the tiniest bit. "Thank you."  
She slowly rests her cheek against his shoulder, like she's giving him time to slip away if he wants to, but he doesn't move (on the contrary, she thinks he might be holding his breath).

"I'm sorry, too."  
"Thanks. I guess it's just – it just feels right to sit here today. I mean – you know. On _this_ day." Her voice sounds heavy.  
"You can't blame yourself, Daisy."  
He can't see her when she's leaning to the side like this, but it feels like she's just gotten a little smaller.  
"There's just – there's so much I would have wanted to talk to her about. There are still so many questions I would have liked to ask. It just feels like everything would have turned out fine if I'd had the chance to just really talk to her. About … everything."  
"I know."  
At first, she's questioning why he would know when it comes to her that this might apply to him, too.  
"Phil. You were too young to know that."  
He turns his head, trying to look at her from the corner of his eyes. "Yeah?"  
"Yeah."

They stay for a bit longer, his arm around her shoulders because May or not, it's cold here at night. Shortly after the waves start getting louder again, she moves to get up.  
"Can I offer you a ride?" His voice is small and shy, like he thinks this moment is over and he might be intruding somehow.  
She purposefully smiles at him, very directly. "Yes, please."  
He doesn't say anything, but he looks almost grateful.

They don't talk during the drive. Daisy just lets him drive wherever he needs to go, doesn't tell him a location where he can drop her off or anything. It's strange these days – while she's not technically with S.H.I.E.L.D., she's got a bunk at the playground, just like Robbie, but the situation is never addressed, and she gets paid per mission. That also means that it's not always clear where she's staying and which steps need to be taken – officially – to involve her in another mission. Coulson knows how to reach her (okay, most of the time, that is), but her status is not exactly determined.

As they're approaching the Playground, he looks at her from the side, as if to check she's okay with where they've arrived. She doesn't let anything show, so he drives Lola into the hangar.  
She's already gotten out and walked around the car by the time he opens his door.  
"Thanks, Coulson."  
He's a little flustered, doesn't know what to say. After all, he followed her. "You're welcome."  
She almost walks away, then turns back around, noticing how his face has apparently dropped, and it's – it's touching. He lights up a little when she looks him in the eye.  
"You know, I – I didn't know that but I didn't want to be alone today."  
He nods, almost smiling, and she reaches for his hand to squeeze it briefly before she turns around again to walk to her bunk.  
He's going to feel the light pressure from her fingers for days.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading. Hope you liked it :)


End file.
